Mumbai: Various members of the Muslim community have come together under the banner of Muslim Welfare Association demanding reservation for the community. The association has claimed that if the current assembly session will not discuss about providing reservation to the Muslim community, they will be taking an aggressive stand to fight for their right.
While the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislative assembly started from Thursday, with the Maratha reservation issue burning in the back end, the Muslim community has stood up once again to demand 5% reservation for education in the state. On Friday, Muslim organisations and activists came together under the banner of Muslim Welfare Association and expressed a unified tune of demanding reservation to the community citing past reports and judgements by the Bombay High Court and commissions.
Infuriated by the inefficiency of previous governments in implementing 5% reservation to the Muslim community approved by the high court, the Muslim Welfare Association has claimed that it is ready to take an aggressive stand and build a movement around this demand to obtain the reservation. The association claimed that the demand of reservation is only for the field of education for the economically backward Muslims.
At a press conference organised on Friday, the association demanded reservation in Maharashtra citing implementation in Andhra Pradesh by the National Democratic Alliance affiliated Telugu Desam Party. It claimed that reservation is necessary to bring Muslims into the mainstream of education. It stated that the root cause of poverty within the community is lack of education as 75% of children between the ages of six and 14 drop out of school within the first few years.
Saleem Sarang, founder member of Muslim Welfare Association, said, “Each party seems to use Muslims only to get votes in elections. But no one seems to be fighting for the rights of Muslims. Muslims vote but they don't get a chance to be voted. Almost all the parties have seen a big drop in Muslim candidates. Is this a ploy to deliberately keep Muslims away from political leadership? It seems that along with educational reservation, Muslims should also demand political reservation. Therefore, the party which will include the issue of Muslim reservation in its manifesto in the next election, will get the support from Muslims.”
The association said that they are hoping to see a discussion in the assembly’s monsoon session about Muslim Reservation and will pursue it aggressively if demands are not met. It has also warned of organising protests throughout the state for this demand.
At the press conference, Muslim representatives from across the state participated to express their support towards the movement. Community members from Latur, Baramati and Marathawada showed readiness to hit the streets for reservation. The association also stated that they will share a statement of this demand to the collectors in every district of the state and a delegation will be meeting the governor to put forth the demand.
The Memon community, a well-off business community within the Muslims, said they do not need the reservation but expressed their support to the movement for other economically backward Muslims. “Nobody knew Manoj Jarange before this but he took up his cause of Maratha reservation with great strength and unity. We need to show unity for this cause and should fight for it in a democratic way. Although Memons are a well-to-do community and do not need reservation, but we support this cause and will stand by the community,” said Iqbal Memon Officer, president of All India Memon Jamaat Federation.
